Dilemma
by Wingscutdarkness
Summary: "Heroes are supposed to be big, and tall, and strong. Heroes are supposed to...to crush their enemies. Heroes aren't afraid of dying in battle." Link swallowed and sniffed slightly. "Heroes aren't scared of thunderstorms either." [Link/Linebeck if you squint?]


Dilemma  
~A Phantom Hourglass Fanfic  
~Written by Wingscutdarkness

* * *

"A man keeps, like his love, his courage dark." -Antoine de Saint Exupery

Fear is a strange thing.  
Rational or irrational, it could strike with little warning, digging its claws deep into the hearts of both older men and younger boys.  
Digging in deep and holding on tight.

It was fear that stole Linebeck's sleep, fear that kept him tossing and turning far into the night. Nothing seemed to help him fall asleep; even the waves gently lapping against the side of the boat did little to quell the painful agitation, which came about as the result of knowing that danger was lurking somewhere out there.  
Somewhere in the dark.

Giving up on sleep for the moment, Linebeck rose and stepped into his boots. Wrapping his jacket tightly around himself, he left his cabin.

The night air was cold enough to make his shiver. The cool, clean scent of the sea greeted him like an old friend, clearing his mind of troubling thoughts for the moment. His gaze traveled along the length of his ship and he blinked, mildly surprised to see a figure standing at the railing and staring out to sea; in the direction of a distant mass of dark clouds marring an otherwise clear, star-speckled sky.  
After a moment, Linebeck walked over to join the figure at the rail.  
Alerted by the dull thumps of his boots against the wood of the deck, the boy turned with a sharp intake of breath, for once not wearing his trademark green hat, which would have flopped around and come to rest over his shoulder.  
Apprehension shone in his large eyes along with the starlight glinting sharply off the waves. One small hand gripped the rope railing, the other resting on the hilt of his sword.

"Kid? What are you doing out here? It's late," Linebeck frowned, pushing both hands deep into the pockets of his coat, hunching his shoulders slightly against the cold. Upon realizing that it was Linebeck, Link visibly relaxed some. A breeze smelling of salt ruffled his and Linebeck's hair, lifted the bottom of Link's tunic slightly, and sent Linebeck's coat swirling about his ankles.

Link sighed. "I couldn't sleep."

Suddenly wondering at the absence of a certain fairy, Linebeck peered at a spot slightly above Link's shoulder, a spot as dim and dark as the rest of the night. "Where's Sparkles?"

"Oh... Ciela?" Link blinked slowly. "She...she wanted to spend the night at Oshus's place. Since, you know..." he lowered his head, beginning to pick at the thickly woven rope railing. "Tomorrow..." He trailed off and Linebeck shifted his feet, uneasily turning to the huge mountain of a shadow behind him that was Mercay Island.

Mercay Island.  
Home to old man Oshus, who claimed to be the Ocean King, the Guardian of the Great Sea, a claim which Linebeck didn't quite believe himself. Nevertheless, he found his gaze unwillingly drawn to the Island temple silhouetted against the stars.  
A shrine dedicated to the Ocean King, what might have been an impressive temple long ago was now a sunken old building, barely more than a few bricks held together by whatever motor hadn't crumbled to dust. According to Link, it was filled with monsters patrolling the floors, monsters invulnerable to the sting of any man-made weapon. And now, according to Oshus, Bellum, a horrible, squid-like creature, was waiting somewhere in the dark, armed with sacred power leached from the inhabitants of the Great Sea.  
Life Force.  
Or so Oshus called it, the power that was stolen from him by Bellum, leaving him virtually helpless as he waited, in the form of an old man, for the legendary hero. For he hadn't even been able to retain the little power that allowed him to maintain his true form.

Linebeck felt that fear crawling up in him again, like an itch deep inside his chest that wouldn't go away. An overwhelming urge came over him, an urge to start his ship up and sail as far away from the Temple of the Ocean King as he could, far enough away so that his hands would stop shaking, like they were now, deep inside his pockets. He felt Link's eyes on him, became aware of a faint scratching sound.  
He blinked, focusing his gaze on the green-clad boy.

"Linebeck?" Link's voice was scarcely louder than the whispering waves. "I...I-I'm scared."

The scratching noise grew slightly louder. Linebeck looked down at Link's fingers, digging at the rough, salt-stiffened rope, and saw that his fingernails were breaking back and bleeding, the tips of his fingers bloody too. Linebeck stiffened, withdrew his hands from his coat and reached down, grasping Link's fingers, pulling them away. The boy was trembling, whether out of cold or fear, Linebeck could feel it; uncontrollable tremors that raced up his arms and through his  
small hands.

"Linebeck, I'm scared," He repeated, the pain not seeming to register. Blood glistened wetly on his fingertips, as, almost unconsciously, his fingers slipped out of Linebeck's grasp, creeping back towards the rope.

"Kid, stop. Stop it!" Linebeck snatched Link's arm, pulling him away entirely.

"But...but...what if I can't beat him?" Link's eyes clouded as Linebeck dragged him to the middle of the deck. "What if I'm not strong enough?" His already pale face whitened further.

Linebeck swallowed, said nothing, slightly shaken by the utter discourage and hopelessness he sensed pulsing from the boy in unhappy waves.

"What if...what if I can't save Tetra?" Link's voice trembled and Linebeck blinked upon seeing a glistening shininess in his eyes; the undeniable beginnings of tears. The wind began to pick up ever so slightly. Off in the distance came a low, heavy rumble of thunder. "What if Bellum is on the ghost ship?" Link said suddenly, head snapping up as lightning streaked across the horizon, briefly illuminating the storm clouds rolling ever closer. "What if he somehow knows I have the Phantom Sword, and is coming to get me before I can go after him?"

The deck creaked as Linebeck abruptly dropped Link's hands and rose to his feet. "You...what are you going on about kid? Why would you say stuff like that?" He rasped. A chill crawled up his spine at the thought of the Ghost Ship, with its creaky, rotting wood, the leering skulls carved into the masts, the masts with their torn, fluttery sails, and the thick fog that surrounded the evil vessel.  
Linebeck gulped, suddenly wanting to curl up in his cabin, preferably under his bed or in the closet, and not come out for a long time.  
Let the world deal with this monstrosity known as Bellum.  
Lightning flashed again, and he staggered backwards. Was that the shadowy outline of a ship he saw in that brief flash of light? The shapes of masts, with their wispy scraps of sail ghosting through the shadows of the clouds?  
Knees shaking, Linebeck turned towards the stairs and his cabin, having gone no more than two steps when he felt a tug on his coat, urgent, desperate.

"Linebeck," Link said, tears trickling down his frightened face. His hands twisted into the material of Linebeck's coat, despite his injured fingertips.  
They both jumped as lightning split the sky, followed by a loud crack of thunder. Linebeck looked up and saw that clouds had blotted out the stars, leaving only a sickly greyish darkness. "Don't leave me alone," Link said, sounding very small.  
It began to rain, sharp, icy drops that fell upon the deck, the ocean, mingling with the tears on Link's face as he stared up at Linebeck. Linebeck stared back for a moment, blinking as raindrops began to pelt his hair, his face, his shoulders.

"S-sorry kid."

"Linebeck!" Link nearly choked on his tears.

"Forget it Kid!" Linebeck's voice hardened as anger began to rise up in him, anger not directed at Link, but rather at himself, his weak, cowardly self. He turned to leave, shakily wrenching his coat away from Link and hurrying towards the steps as lightning flashed and thunder came more consistently now, less and less time between each growling rumble. The swelling waves swayed the boat, sending Linebeck lurching down the passageway and against the door to his small cabin.  
Immediately, he whirled around and ran back, pulling shut the heavy door separating the upper deck from the inside of the ship once Link had hurried inside, lest any sea water get in the interior of the boat.

"Linebeck!" Link grabbed hold of his arm.  
With trembling fingers Linebeck fumbled for the doorknob of his room, twisting his way out of his coat as he did and leaving Link holding a slightly damp pile of cloth. "Linebeck, please!" Link cried as Linebeck threw open the door, slamming it shut behind him.  
Once inside, his fluttering heartbeats began to calm as he stood there, panting.  
There came a wild pounding on his door, and he jumped.  
"Linebeck! Let me in!" Link screeched, his cries drowned out by an almost deafening clap of thunder. Linebeck used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe the rain off his face and leaned heavily against the wall to steady himself as the boat tilted and swayed, and Link continued his relentless pounding. "Linebeck!"

"G-go away kid!" Linebeck said hoarsely.  
Bellum, the Ghost Ship, this storm; many frightening thoughts were swirling around his head, pounding at his temples all at once. He stumbled further into the small, dark cabin, banging his shins painfully on something as he did. The only source of light came from occasional flashes of lighting, sickly, yellowish light streaming through his tiny window, slicing through the darkness with painful intensity. Wincing at the dull throb in his legs, Linebeck ground the palms of his hands into his eyes until the little white flickers of light in the dark dissolved into nothingness.  
A sharp _bang!_ nearly made his heart burst out of his chest and he dropped his hands, whirling around. His limbs felt limp and rubbery as he saw that his door had been thrown open, backwards against the wall. A shadowy shape streaked past him, disappearing somewhere in the dark, and Linebeck gasped,  
before rushing to close the door against the wind that made strange noises as it reverberated throughout the small corridor, bouncing off the walls.

"Kid?"

There came no answer, and Linebeck felt his knees began to shake again, although his flustered brain managed to think at him, who else could it be, on his boat in the middle of a storm?

"K-Kid?"

This time, he heard a faint whimper and fumbled for the lamp he kept on his desk. Using the lightning's light, he snatched up a match, and, relying heavily on feel, struck it against his tinderbox, blinking in the small spark of light. Holding the lamp at an angle, he reached into the rounded glass bulb, touching the match to the wick. A flame flickered greedily to life, and Linebeck used the lit lamp to scan the cabin, discovering the source of the whimpering curled up beneath his bed a few moments later.  
Link had wrapped Linebeck's coat tightly around himself and was shivering, his eyes closed, his sword and sheath tossed to the side.

"Kid."

Link didn't respond.

"Kid." Linebeck said again, louder this time, and Link looked up, with wide eyes robbed of color in the half-light. His hair, grown almost to his  
shoulders, was wet and plastered to his face. Realizing that Linebeck wasn't forcefully dragging him out of his room, he uncurled, scooting forwards and out from under the bed before shakily rising to this feet. Linebeck peered at him for a moment, frowning at the water streaming off of Link's hair and dripping onto the floor, before going to his desk and retrieving the strips of cloth he had torn up long ago, when Link had started coming back to the ship covered in scrapes and scratches.  
He nearly dropped the white strips of fabric as a tremendously loud crack of thunder seemed to split the sky, the accompanying lighting dazzling the room. Raindrops pummeled against the window, water trickling down the glass like tears.  
Link disappeared again.  
Linebeck blinked and gingerly sat down on the edge of the bed, which creaked.

"Y-you know kid," His voice came out sounding embarrassingly squeaky and he stopped and coughed, giving himself time to think of what Oshus or Ciela would say in this sort of situation. "You know kid," he tried again, a little less of a waver in his voice than before. "It's...it's okay to be afraid. If you're afraid, then there's usually a good reason why."

Outside, a torrent of sea water splashed against the window. The boat creaked, a noise like rusty hinges.  
Linebeck swallowed, forcing himself not to flinch at the sounds of the wind and the rain and the thunder and the aggravated sea.

"A thunderstorm...is not a good reason."

He hoped it wasn't extremely obvious that he was trying as hard to  
convince himself as much as he was Link.

"You've sailed all over the Great Sea, with its cyclones and pirates and...and Jolene!" Linebeck shuddered. "Why, I bet there's nothing as scary anywhere else in the whole sea, and you sent that crazy she-pirate running! But you're scared of a thunderstorm?"

After a moment, Link's face appeared over the edge of the bed, the glowing lamplight glinting off the highlights in his blonde hair.

"But Jolene's not Bellum," He stated solemnly, sounding a lot less panicked now, and more like his old self.

Linebeck stared unblinking for a moment.  
Was that what this was really all about?  
He set his lamp down on his knees and snatched Link's hands from where they were holding on to the edge of the bed, before he could get away.  
The fingers of his left hand were streaked with blood; blood dried and blood still oozing out of his tender nail beds. His hands were cold and felt like some dead thing. Linebeck winced, chasing all such thoughts out of his head as he examined Link's overgrown, now torn nails and raw fingertips.

"No. No, she's...not. But, uh, you beat her with just your normal sword." Linebeck let go of Link to take up his lamp, and, rising to his feet, carefully made his way over to the small barrel of freshwater he kept beside the desk, for whenever Link had come back with a wound that needed cleaning. "And now you've got a new one." He said brightly. "That squidy thing doesn't stand a chance."

"But...Bellum...stole the Ocean King's power," Link pointed out. "Almost all of it. Think of how powerful something that can do that must be."

Linebeck thought for a moment, prying open the barrel and soaking a larger strip of cloth in the water as he did. He wrung it out slightly  
before leaning on the lid and pushing it back into place.

"Well, old man Oshus didn't have a big shiny sword like you do," He said, setting the lamp on the floor and pulling Link's hands out of the sleeves of his navy blue coat. "A big shiny sword made out of those three metals that took forever to find. And probably would have made me rich if we sold them instead of having that blacksmith guy go at them with his hammer." Linebeck grumbled, dabbing at Link's fingers as well as he could in the dim light.  
The lightning was no longer coming as often, and the thunder was slowing to a soft growl more than anything.

Link hissed as the wet cloth made contact with his injured skin, and squirmed, painful tears glittering in his eyes.

"But...what if...what if Oshus is wrong somehow?' His teeth clenched. "What if the Phantom Sword really can't defeat Bellum?"

Linebeck waited a few seconds before peeling the cloth away. It was stained a watery red.

"Well kid..." He gestured to the sacred mark, faintly visible on the back of Link's left hand. "You saved the world once already, without that fancy phantom sword, didn't you?"

"Yes but...hah!" Link flinched as Linebeck began winding the bandage around his fingers, carefully covering his nails. "Bellum...Bellum can steal Life Force...ah!" He bit his bottom lip as Linebeck gave a firm tug, and then tied the fabric off in a small, tight knot.

"So he's a giant squidy thing that can suck the souls out of living things." Linebeck scoffed with false confidence. "Big deal."

"But..." Link started, and then stopped, eyes searching Linebeck's face. He didn't sound too convinced, and Linebeck rolled his eyes, becoming slightly exasperated.

"Look kid. I'm sure you've faced plenty of terrifying monsters on your journeys."

"Well...yes..."

"And you're still here, aren't you?"

"Yes, but-"

"And what's more, you _beat_ all those monsters. You didn't run away, and you obviously weren't too scared to take them on eventually. And  
from what I've heard, most of them were much more intimidating than an overgrown squid."

Link was silent, absentmindedly drawing his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs.

"Well...there were some pretty scary monsters," He whispered.

"But you beat all of them." Linebeck repeated, leaving the lamp on the floor beside Link before rising to his feet and falling amidst the tangle of grey, scratchy blankets on his bed. "You should stop worrying about everything and go to sleep. Or at least get out so I can." He burrowed further into the inviting warmness, not even bothering to kick off his boots before closing his over-tired eyes. "And don't forget to shut the door on your way out." He added as an  
afterthought, and then felt the corner of his mouth quirk upwards in a half-smile as he heard Link blow out the lamp, apparently picking up on the hint to leave.  
For once Linebeck was glad that Link was acting more like his normal self, the self that took a weirdly adult-like approach to most situations like these, and not freaking out, or screaming, or crying, which was something Linebeck had always hated.  
Tears were unpredictable.  
They could strike suddenly, with little warning and for many reasons.  
They could take forever to stop, even with the right kind of comforting. And Linebeck had never really been the comforting type.

"But Linebeck, you don't understand," Link suddenly said from somewhere in the dark. "I was scared. I was terrified whenever I was fighting any monsters."  
Linebeck frowned at the fact that Link was still there. Now more annoyed than sleepy, he rolled over onto his side, turning away from Link's voice.  
"So scared." The boy continued.  
Linebeck felt the edge of the bed dip slightly away from him, heard the creaking shudder of springs.  
"Most times, when I had to fight a monster or something, my hands would shake so much that I could barely hold a sword." Link said. A slight tremor had entered his voice. "Sometimes I thought I really was...was...going to die."

Linebeck blinked in the darkness and reached backwards over his shoulder, patting around blindly in the dark. His fingers ghosted over his blankets, then the skin of Link's exposed ankle and his thin leggings slightly above that, then the familiar-feeling fabric draped about Link's shoulders.

"Hmm. You're the Legendary Hero, kid." Linebeck grasped the sleeve of his coat. "You turned that...uh...evil guy into stone by...driving your sword through his chest." He winced slightly at this unpleasant mental image. "How could normal monsters scare you so bad when you took down the king of darkness himself?"

"It was his head, not his chest," Link corrected, grabbing on to the end of the jacket being pulled off his shoulders. "And I was talking about before I beat Ganondorf," He said reproachfully.

Linebeck sniffed.

"Heroes are always gonna run into some kind of monster, kid. It's...it's like an occupational hazard. Take me for example. Sometimes there's bad weather on the sea, and it's my job to buckle down, stay with my ship, and ride it out. That's how it works."

"But I didn't _ask_ to be a hero!" Link said in distress, "You _chose_ to become a sailor, but I didn't ever think about facing kings of evil, or holding a legendary sword in my hands."

Linebeck, who had frozen when Link had suddenly raised his voice, shifted uncomfortably upon feeling Link start to shake beside him, upon hearing the wobble in his voice.

"Heroes are supposed to be big, and tall, and strong. Heroes are supposed to...to _crush_ their enemies. Heroes aren't afraid of dying in battle." Link swallowed and sniffed slightly. "Heroes aren't scared of thunderstorms either."

Linebeck was silent, not quite sure how to respond.

"I may have defeated Ganondorf, but Bellum...I just don't know if I can do it." Link sighed, miserably flopping down on his back. "Why...why was I chosen to be the hero? I'm not big or tall or strong."  
One of his out-flung arms hit Linebeck in the back, and he flinched irritably, nerves still somewhat high-strung.  
"I've come back to the ship half dead, more than once. And...and..." Link sniffed again. "I'm scared of thunderstorms...!" He pressed his face against Linebeck's back, only slightly muffling the beginnings of shaky sobs joining the sound of rain drumming steadily on the top of the boat, pattering on the deck, streaming down the window. Linebeck stiffened, and tried to shift away but found the wall in his way.

"Kid." He reached over, groaning inwardly at this undesired turn of events, and attempted to pry Link's fingers away from where they had  
twisted into the material of his shirt. "Kid..."  
Still, with an agitation that came about as a result of overtiredness, anxiety, and pent-up stress, Link continued to weep, whimpers occasionally breaking the otherwise steady stream of sound that accompanied the shedding of tears.  
Linebeck's back began to feel damp, and he recoiled, struggling to a sitting position, his legs all tangled up in the blankets.  
"Kid, cut it out," he snapped, then grunted as Link kicked his way out of the mess of blankets and threw himself at Linebeck, wrapping his small arms tightly around his neck and burying his face against his shoulder.  
He sniffled and hiccupped and Linebeck just sat there, feeling a little perturbed at this new side of Link he had never seen before, so different from the stoic boy who almost always took on anything without hesitation.  
Very much startled at suddenly finding himself clung to and cried upon, he sat there stiffly as Link's small body was wracked with shuddering sobs.  
After a moment he cleared his throat.

"You know...the hero who first fought Ganondorf hundreds of years ago, the one they called the Hero of time, was a kid, just like you."

Link hiccupped again and gripped Linebeck's hair, tears wet against Linebeck's neck.

"He left his home, traveled all over the place, fought monsters and visited strange new places on a quest he was sent on; a quest to stop the Evil King who plotted to get the mysterious Triforce, and use it to take over the world."

Link grew still, no longer shaking as nearly as much, as his sobs slowed to small mewing noises. Linebeck stretched his legs out, reclining back against the wall slightly, bringing his arm cautiously up and around Link.

"He met a princess, who sent him to find two sacred...uh..."  
Linebeck paused. Certain parts of the story had gone foggy in his memory since the last time he had heard it, so long ago.  
"...Objects," He finally settled on. "Objects which...which would help him in his quest somehow. One was deep inside an old tree, and held by a possessed spider queen. One of them was inside the stomach of a huge whale, which the kid entered, and fought some sort of electric parasite to get. And the last object some Gorons had, and gave it to the kid after he went and killed a massive lizard that had been blocking the entrance to the Goron mines."  
Linebeck closed his dry, tired eyes and tried to remember what came next, and Link shifted a little, no longer crying, just sniffling occasionally, his back rising and falling under Linebeck's arm with each intake of breath.

"The kid went back to find the princess...but found that the castle she lived in was burning. He ran to get closer, when suddenly the princess rode past him on a white horse. She didn't have time to stop, but managed to throw the kid an...an..."

"Ocarina?" Link spoke up, sounding rather worn out.  
Linebeck blinked.

"She threw him her ocarina, and then rode away, leaving the boy alone, but not for long because the Evil King rode up on _his _horse. He stopped in front of the kid and wanted to know which way the princess had gone, but the boy refused to tell the dark king, instead pulling out his sword. But the Evil King was too strong and brushed off the kid's attacks, finally growing impatient and hitting him with his dark power before chasing off after the princess.  
Even though he was wounded, the boy took the princess's ocarina and went to the...uh...temple or something.  
Using his ocarina and the objects he had collected, he opened the door to the realm where the Triforce was kept and was-"

"Put into a magical sleep for seven years." Link interrupted sleepily.

"...Right. And do you know why he fell asleep for seven years?"

Link's arms had slipped off of Linebeck's neck, and he slumped down,  
his head resting against Linebeck's chest.

"Why?"

"He wasn't strong enough as a kid to beat Ganondorf." Linebeck answered. "He had to wait until he was an adult."

"Mmm." Link murmured. "My...my grandma used to tell me that story sometimes."

"Then you probably know all the rest. How as an adult, he woke seven Sages and used their power to get to Ganondorf's castle, where he managed to weaken Ganondorf enough to let the Sages banish him to the Sacred Realm. He rescued the princess, saved that kingdom of..."

"Hyrule." Link provided.

"And then Ganondorf escaped from the Sacred Realm, the Hero of Time never showed up, yadda yadda, and you know the rest. But what my point is," Linebeck fumbled around a bit until he found Link's arm and pushed the sleeve of his coat back with both hands.  
"The Hero of Time couldn't beat Ganondorf as a kid; but _you_ did."

Picking up Link's hand, Linebeck held it up between the both of them, displaying the sacred mark glowing dimly in the dark.

"Oh..." Link breathed, lifting his head to look at his hand. "I guess...I guess I did beat Ganondorf, didn't I? Even though I'm not big or tall. Even though I'm just a kid."

"Kid, you may be just a kid, but there's..uh...probably no one else anywhere who could do a better job at the whole hero thing than you." Linebeck immediately winced at how sappy this sounded.

Link yawned and didn't seem to mind.

"Do you really think so?" He murmured.

"Well..." Linebeck held up his hand, began counting off each point on his fingers. "You were named after the Hero of Time. You beat Ganondorf when he couldn't. You got the hero's clothes, the Master Sword, and the Phantom Sword. You freed three twinkly spirit fairies. You've faced pirates, ghosts, walking skeletons, and phantoms. You've even boarded the Ghost Ship, and survived."  
Linebeck paused.  
"I say there's a pretty good reason the Goddesses picked you to be their hero."

Link didn't answer; and from his deep breathing, Linebeck realized that he had fallen asleep, just like that, his hand still limp in  
Linebeck's.

Eventually Linebeck pushed him off of his chest and onto the bed beside him, not having the heart to wake him up and make him go to his own closet-like room.

Fear is a strange thing.  
It could strike with little warning, digging its claws deep into the hearts of both older men and younger boys.  
Digging in deep and hanging on tight.  
But sometimes it could disappear as soon as it showed up. Sometimes it was long lasting, but other times it could stay with you for just about as long as a thunderstorm, wreaking havoc and pouring rain for a while, and maybe even churning up some pretty big waves on the sea, but eventually, losing power like a storm.  
A storm gently pushed elsewhere by a wind that swirled about the shadows of the clouds, breaking them up into insignificant little wisps which dissipated into  
nothingness, revealing the light of the stars speckling the sky.  
A light which was always there, though sometimes hidden in shadows.

Link stirred in his sleep, pressing against Linebeck's shoulder.

Linebeck reached over and lifted Link's left hand again, frowning upon feeling a calloused palm and several small, raised scars.  
Reminders of just how many ordeals the young hero had gone through.  
He gently turned that hand over, gazing upon the Triforce mark once more. The symbol glowed and pulsed gently, like some living thing entirely on its own, and strangely enough, Linebeck felt a feeling of calmness settle over him, almost as if that golden light was seeping deep inside of him, causing the fear to unclench its little claws and slink away.  
He closed his eyes, as his mind ceased to be tormented for the first time in weeks. He allowed himself to marvel at the feeling, to remember what it was like to be at ease, if only for the moment.  
For he knew that the fear would return. He was Linebeck after all. Weak, cowardly, arrogant Linebeck, who was also scared of thunderstorms.  
But...maybe it would be different this time.  
Maybe Link really was capable of defeating Bellum, and when he did, Linebeck would have no need to fear anymore. For where else did fear originate if not from the stealer of souls himself?  
Perhaps slaying the evil monster would do it.  
Or perhaps it was the golden triangle on Link's hand that had the power to drive all of Linebeck's fears away.  
Perhaps he would never again feel the icy cold prickling down his spine, the creeping numbness in his hands, the shivers racing through his limbs.

Then he remembered something, something that bothered him, just one small thing keeping him from falling asleep. He lay there, in the dark, eyes now wide open, something Link had said earlier repeating over and over in his head, making goose bumps prick at his arms, making the hair on the back of his neck prickle.

_...What if the Phantom Sword really can't __defeat Bellum?_

~Fin


End file.
